[Reader-list] Tea Shop

[Zainab Bawa]

7 October 2004
Tea Shop

This afternoon, we decided to have tea after lunch. There are quite a few 
tea shops around Nirala Residential Area. Some of them are simple structures 
built of material like wood and hay. Some are more established, in the sense 
of being concretized, along the lines of tea shop cum restaurant. Tea is a 
relatively cheap affair. You can ask for a “choto cha” which means small tea 
(i.e. half cup) or a “bodo cha” which means a big tea (i.e. full cup). Then 
again, you have ‘lal cha” which means red tea without milk or you have “dudh 
cha” which means milk tea. The lal cha contains lemon and ginger if you may 
please while the dudh cha is an illusion of milk because Milkmaid or 
condensed milk is used as a substitute for real milk. Lal cha costs two taka 
while dudh cha is about three taka and half both these prices in case you 
have a choto cha.

Apart from tea, the tea shop serves you tidbits like breads of different 
kinds, kola (bananas), biscuits, candies and toffees, and fried snacks in 
case it is a concretized tea shop. In case of a wayside tea shop made out of 
wood, normally a little wooden bench is placed outside for about two to four 
people to sit a time while sipping tea.

A tea shop is more than just the structure. It is a location, a place and 
more importantly, a space with a different sense of time. A tea shop is a 
point of convergence. An example is the tea shops in Kolkatta which are 
known as ‘addas’ or place for gossip and discussion. Increasingly, tea shops 
are being replaced (if I may say so) by coffee shops and tea houses 
including Barristas and Café Coffee Days. One idea of a tea shop in Mumbai 
City could be the Uddipi restaurants, though while in an Uddipi tea is a 
cheap affair, it is also a rushed affair during lunch times and business 
hours. It is intriguing to examine the notions of time and space in both, 
the modern structures as well as the traditional ones.

A Barrista or a modern day coffee shop/café is an individualized space. In 
contrast, the tea shop, like the one I am mentioning here in Khulna, is more 
a community space. The main difference between the Barrista and tea shop is 
that the former is an enclosed space (or closed space) while the latter is 
such that it is an open space, even if it is a concretized tea shop. This 
then means that the terms for entry and exit are different in both cases. In 
case of a Barrista, you have to fulfill certain social and economic criteria 
in order to access it. In case of a tea shop, it is open to all. People of 
some segments of social and economic classes may not frequent/patronize the 
tea shop because of their own inhibitions, but the place as such does not 
put restrictions on you. Also important is the very prices of tea and coffee 
in both these places  - in a Barrista, you must at least have fifty rupees 
to make an entry whereas in a tea shop, five taka could do you enough. 
Further, the concept of credit operates at the tea shop unlike in a Barrista 
where service is on the basis of immediate payment – only credit cards here 
please! I believe the same analogy can also be applied to the local general 
store (kiryana shop) as against a mall like Big Bazaar if you have to shop 
groceries and food stuff – no credits in the case of the latter.

The tea shop at Nirala is a place where students from the University gather. 
They discuss academics, happenings at the university, gossiping about 
professors and girls in the campus. The tea shop is then one of the 
locations where time is practiced in terms of leisure and growth of 
individual and his relationships (I say ‘his’ because usually, a tea shop in 
Khulna tends to be a male affair. Females visit tea shops if they are 
accompanied by men. Otherwise you do not see them around much at the tea 
shops. In this sense, access to Barrista is not restricted in terms of 
gender.) The other important point of difference between a Barrista and a 
tea shop is the practice of leisure. When you are done with your coffee in 
Barrista, you are expected to either leave or order for something else. You 
have to pay to sit, though there are some exceptions in case if Barrista is 
not crowded, it is possible that you can sit inspite of having finished with 
your grub and are not ordering anymore. In a tea shop in contrast, the idea 
is to encourage you to continue sitting, or there are no restrictions if you 
sit even after you have finished. If you continue sitting, it is likely that 
you will ask for another cup of tea. Also, since credit systems do work in a 
tea shop, your desire to go easy is not restricted by the currency in your 
pocket.

I do not know what place a tea shop would have in an urban setting like 
Mumbai. These are the days of coffee and tea machines – instant and quick. I 
associate a tea shop with the very practice and notion of time and also with 
the idea of a meeting space. Does it then not make greater sense to improve 
upon the designs of indigenous structures rather than import entirely new 
concepts and structures from outside?

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